Stevens 305F

Heavy trigger but fun and effective I believe. Just got a used one last week so only fired a part box of ammo to date. Very short sight radius on irons would make them hard to use accurately I think though I haven't tried them yet. However a peep of some kind might work very well IMO.

My first shots at 100 were encouraging - approx 2 1/2" group.
IMG_0116.jpg



After that clicked scope left a few and fired five shots at 25 thinking grouse head - one large ragged hole.
IMG_0117.jpg


The Beast
IMG_0119.jpg
 
Whoever I bought mine from on here must of worked the trigger cause it seems decent.
With hornady ammo, 1.5" @ 50yrds with a field type rest - not the sturdiest.
Will try out some winchester & cci ammo next.

What kind of scope you using Whelen? I got a 4x on mine.

stevens305f_zps3fada35a.gif
 
Are these made strictly for the Canadian market? I am surprised the barrels are not threaded for suppressors that some Europeans get to use. I was thinking of getting one, but I'm more attracted to a short barrel 10/22 at the moment...
 
What kind of scope you using Whelen? I got a 4x on mine.
Click to expand...

For now a fixed Jap 2.5x20mm Banner with a command post reticle. Had it on my Frontier/358Win for a long while. Works good.

However I may get something with more magnification if it looks like it will be accurate at 100. We'll see. Out this evening and some Crows looked pretty small thru that 2.5x at 150yds-200yds. Thinking a little more magnification for that kind of use - if possible - maybe a 4x too. I just bought two more different types of ammo tonight (40gr and 45gr Winchester) for it to begin to see what it likes.















i
 
So much for the "good for up to 25yrds" marketing they were doing, if we can reach out to 100yrds with them. I'm happy with 25-50yrds myself.
 
good for up to 25yrds
Click to expand...
pretty sure thats using the extremely short sight radius factory irons. My guess anyway. Otherwise scoped no reason they won't be as accurate as the long barrel versions IMO - we'll see.

Not a fan of the leaf spring and mag hanging down right at the balance point. Awkward as all get out to carry. Also I'm trying to think up an easy mod to make sure I don't accidentally jettison and lose the mag in the woods. First thought is a heavy postal elastic band wrapped around mag and leaf spring. Not elegant but might work - or not. Not out much to try it.
 
Last edited:
Even with the short sight radius, I made regular hits on an 8" gong at 100 yards off hand. Obviously this is not normal use for this rifle, but it does show that it is way more accurate than they advertised.

I miss mine. :(
 
I've seen a couple new ones on the EE.

Did some more shooting today @ roughly 25yrds, with a caldwell fieldpod, almost had a one ragged hole 5shot group with federal 50gr JHPs, but one shot went slightly low.
Hornady 30grs & CCI 40gr JHPs were both decent as well.
 
Last edited:
I have the 300f in .22lr. it's a great little rifle. I put a rifle basix trigger in mine. went from a really heavy trigger to pretty decent.
 
lone-wolf said:
Whoever I bought mine from on here must of worked the trigger cause it seems decent.
With hornady ammo, 1.5" @ 50yrds with a field type rest - not the sturdiest.
Will try out some winchester & cci ammo next.

What kind of scope you using Whelen? I got a 4x on mine.

stevens305f_zps3fada35a.gif
Click to expand...

^ This has awesome written all over it. :) I've been wanting to slap one of those TR-R style tri-rails on a Mark II ever since I saw them...you sir..beat me to it. Very cool.
 
.22LRGUY said:
^ This has awesome written all over it. :) I've been wanting to slap one of those TR-R style tri-rails on a Mark II ever since I saw them...you sir..beat me to it. Very cool.
Click to expand...

Yep, I felt the same way, 'must have it' with no real reason why. The egw scope base I had on it is a good one as well.
 
Got one failure to fire out of a box of Hornady ammo (50 rounds). However today every other Winchester 40gr amd 45gr was not firing on first strike. If I just lift the bolt handle to #### the firing pin a second time in the same place it will then always fire. The cocking piece even appears slow to fall if I watch it dry fire (with a spent case in the chamber). It may need cleaning, breaking in, smoothing/polishing of bolt parts or ??? The hammer strike definitely seems enemic. Be trying to fix that in days to come.

Any ideas or experience welcome here re fixing this problem in a Stevens/Savage rimfire.

Update - just sprayed bolt mechanism with gun scrubber and then applied Rem Oil. Will report back if that helps.

2nd Update - more failures to fire today - recock and away she goes. Next be taking bolt apart for some more cleaning and some fine stoning/polishing probably.
 
Last edited:
Continuing this review/report on the Stevens M305 trapper/backpacker rifle;
So I polished up and reworked the bolt inards of my Stevens M305 F and have got only one misfire since (one with Winchester which seems a more common experience of others too). So hoping that problem is gone. I also reduced trigger pull which was ridiculously heavy.

As I was losing light a few days ago, I quickly set up two targets a 100yds and fired 5 shots at each resting on my range bag - with two different ammo types. The improved trigger was a joy to shoot and that shaved about an inch off my previous 100yd groups. These are about 1 1/2" groups - not tack driving but about the norm for most good 22 mag rifles I gather.

Still going to try a few other things to tighten the groups more. Lotsa fun. Peep sight install coming too.

M305_targ1a.jpg


M305_targ2a.jpg
 
I had one of these, decided I loved the idea of it, but wanted something with more punch to it. So I put a full stock on a ranch hand. Now I'm finding I want one of these in just .22LR.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom